Darkness Descends on the War-Torn Kou [Assignment/Training]

“Sire,” said the voice of a young woman, bowing before the obsidian throne decorated with various bones, “After the war subsided, it seems that there is a growing presence in Kou. They don’t seem harmful, and seem to be in good standing in the region. How do you wish to proceed?”

The candles flickered. Their light dimly reflected off the figure sitting in the chair. His silver hair draped over his shoulders, covering his bare torso. Light glinted off his obsidian crown. “Not harmful, eh…?” A masked man stood next to the figure, holding his hands behind his back. The man in the throne stood, his bare feet touching the cool stone floor. He stepped down the stairs silently. “Interesting,” he said, stopping in front of the kneeling lady. “Stand.”

The woman stood in silence, but her lip could be seen quivering. Adrastos smirked and grabbed her delicate face in his hand, tilting and turning her face for him to look at. “Tell me, Nox,” he said, glancing back at the masked man, “Does this face look like it belongs to someone capable of deciding who is harmful and harmless?” Nox shook his head. The dark king scoffed, turning his dead silver eyes back toward the woman. “I didn’t think so.”

Snap!

The woman crumpled to the floor like a ragdoll. Her eyes were wide with shock, or maybe it was fear… Adrastos shoved the corpse aside with his foot. So, there was a new player in the field? If they were growing, why hadn’t Yoshiro turned his attention to it yet? After dealing with a rising militia started by his father, wouldn’t the current Emperor crack down on it immediately? “I suppose I’ll look into it myself if His Majesty won’t react. Come, Nox.” The dark king left his base, discarding his black clothes and crown for a white kimono and glasses, to travel to where this newly formed group operated: a valley in the western part of Kou...

A few days later:

Dusks. The lowest members of the Order of Shadows. Their skillsets were varied, though never so strong in any given skill as to rise above the others. A member of this group lay prostrate upon the ground, bowing to Adrastos. “Master, this lowly one brings you a report regarding the new force that has arisen. Under your order, us Dusks have searched day and night, discretely inquiring towards this new force’s origins.” In contrast to the one that was killed the previous day, this one was much more careful with their words. “The leader is a man by the name of ‘Trently.’ There has recently been word of him, here and there, amongst the citizens of Kou. He runs a group of subordinates, acting to dispense their own brand of justice.”

The man paused for a brief moment as he took a breath in. “I believe most notable is the origin of this group. Some brothers have seen a few of Trently’s subordinates before. Suffice to say their origins are less than noble; common bandits, several of them. M’lord, I have written a full report, though I’d be happy to speak it should you prefer. You need only say the word.” The Dusk took a scroll from his robes, kow-towed to the ground while offering it up in the air for an attendant to bring to Adrastos.

Adrastos grinded his teeth together. Trently… Why did that not surprise him? That was the same name of the young man from the meeting. The dark king left after Trently got caught sneaking into Gao’s tent. After that… He fought his own father in the war. Some thought he died in an explosion alongside his blood father, but there was no way someone like Trently could have died from that even if everyone wanted it to happen. “Go ahead.”

“Yes, M’lord.” The Dusk responded, his head still down. “Reports say he has been fighting against the Sasan Kingdom lately. In addition to this, it looks like he has been taking up other tasks here and there to build goodwill with those in Kou.”

A servant brought the list to Adrastos, allowing the leader of this group to read further details. In the scroll was also a portrait of Trently’s likeness. “These are only the acts he has performed that are public knowledge. M’lord’s servants are continuing to investigate this man and his actions, tracking his forces movements by listening to news from village criers and keeping an eye out for that group in the surrounding cities, towns and villages.” The subordinate lay still, thinking of the merchants that traded from town to town, traveling through their trade routes while maintaining a pulse on Trently’s movements.

The dark king looked over the list. “Still looks the same as he did… That hopeful look in his eyes is still there, but it seems his arm is not metal,” he said. “However his organization’s backstory as bandits is interesting. It’s very difficult to believe they all changed their ways so easily and remain in good standing with their current positions. Building the goodwill amongst the people is predictable for him, but sadly it doesn’t mean his group is loyal to Yoshiro. Fighting against the Sasan could just be viewed as him protecting his own territory or skin...” Adrastos played with a strand of his hair in amusement. “If I remember reports, he declared he wasn’t for Gao or Yoshiro during his fight, and he even fought for Gao’s side. He is partially at fault for this country's struggles after the fighting. If he truly cared, he wouldn’t have fought on either side of the war and instead aided in relief efforts for both parties… A shame for him that he hasn’t seemed to think this through..” He smiled. “But one man’s mistakes can lead to another’s fortune.” Adrastos looked down at his minion. “Anything else to report?”

“No, M’lord. By your leave, I shall return to my post with all haste.” The Dusk was internally happy to have survived the encounter, but dared not allow it to show in their voice. The minion awaited Adrastos’ dismissal, ready to respectfully leave once the man was finished with the report.

The dark king nodded as he crossed his arms in thought. The best course of action would be to hire bandits within the area and disguise himself as Trently with magic. That way if anything happened, clairvoyance wouldn’t be able to immediately reveal the truth if it could. “Find me some bandits, Nox. Preferably in the area that are well known and tell them that Trently, the leader of Miracle, wishes to invite them to his faction after a job is completed. Naturally they will be paid for their services, and make sure the meeting is in a public place.” His silver eyes scanned the report given to him by his subordinate. “This will be interesting.”

The following day, Adrastos sat in a tavern using an illusion spell to disguise himself as Trently. Looking like him was easy enough, especially since he’d seen Trently before and his appearance hadn’t changed. Sounding like him was a bit more tricky, but manageable with a life spell to alter his vocal cords. The tricky part came in when needing to mimic Trently’s speech pattern, but Adrastos thought all he’d need to do was act in an opposite manner than he normally did. While at the meeting, the dark king remembered his eyes being so full of hope. There was an aura of light and friendliness around him. The thought of having to mimic that, however, was disgusting. How would he pull it off if he discarded his humanity? Or did that just mean he could mimic others more easily by not being conflicted or affected?

A group of men entered, their eyes scanning the room until they fell on Adrastos in his disguise. Some of these men had scars, though the one most prominent was what seemed to be the leader. He lead the group towards ‘Trently’ and sat at the table before speaking in hushed voices. “Sir, you’re the one called Trently? I heard you were looking to hire us, more permanent-like, but needed to test our mettle?”

Adrastos, disguised as Trently, nodded and discussed his plans, mimicking the young man’s mannerisms to the best of his ability, but keeping the meeting abrupt. Adrastos provided simple instructions: make a camp, wait near the gate entering the capital city of Kou for a signal to enter, and after that they were free to kill, pillage, or do whatever their hearts desired. They were to make a commotion with the weapons and magic tools he’d load, head back to camp once they were done, and then pack up their stuff and hide.

The idea was that Trently would come in and clean up the bandit presence in the area, allowing the general populace to become further enamored with his troupe and himself.

After passing some coin over to tide them up until they could come out of hiding, Adrastos left. He traveled away from the town to a nearby inn, and under the cover of darkness, left the town with a different face of another person staying at the inn via more illusion magic.

While everything would be prepared, Adrastos would go to the capital of Kou under the name of Neo, his alias as a doctor, and assist the people there until the time was right.

 
Adrastos sat in his throne room, the very room where he slayed the spider witch with his full djinn equip, tapping his nails against the stone armrest. In his other hand, he fiddled with the scroll obtained from Gamigan. How much time had passed since the dungeon? Too long, and now he faced his prize, uncertain about the contents, the secrets, written on the parchment. Still, the dark king had to know and with shaky hands, he opened the scroll.

This is a secret that I, Gamigan, and the other Djinn keep from mortals. Knowledge of the truth is kept hidden, to save the world from the tragedy that has already happened twice before and to keep the population from destroying each other out of fear. However, perhaps, a new course of action should be taken. Perhaps, whoever receives this scroll will be able to find an answer we couldn’t find.

The world was once an entirely different place, inhabited by creatures of various breeds and sizes, all intelligent beings capable of expressing their own emotions and complicated thought processes. It was so much different than the world you know. However, like all living things, they grew, and with this growth came territorial disputes. Some joined together, some didn’t, but no matter what, the weak became food for the strong. Humans were the weakest of all the races and ended up at the bottom of the food chain. The human race had been dwindled down to a population of a mere five hundred. All was not completely lost though. The creator of the world, Ill Illah, decided to intervene, providing the humans with the necessary tools to save them: Divine Staves. Adrastos paused, frowning. There was a creator for the world? Why did it wait so long to intervene? What was its purpose..? Adrastos continued reading, working towards understanding the truths of this world.

With these new tools, humans were tasked with the duty of ending the wars and unifying the world. For the most part, humans were successful, but chaos would prevail for at least eight hundred more years. During those turbulent times a man by the name of David founded the Orthodox Church, hoping to end the chaos that continued to manifest. Such an organization was bound to fail eventually, tainted by the greed and corruption of humanity, and they began to enslave the creatures they were meant to unify and protect. The seventy-two divine staffs were placed in newly constructed towers in other species’ land to weaken them, making them easier to control. Narrowing his eyes, Adrastos snorted in disgust. It seemed there was a common truth; strength was the only thing that could allow a person to control their destiny.

Solomon, after visiting the last Dragon of Origin, felt sympathy towards the enslaved creatures after understanding the truth of his father’s corrupted church. A resistance was formed with Arba, closest friend and swordmaster, Salan, and even Ugo, overseer of the past two worlds. Together, they freed more avatars of Divine staves, but the resistance began to worry about leadership. Solomon, to ensure the unity of the world, became the ruler that everyone trusted after the final battle. You could say he was the only candidate sufficient for the people. King Solomon, Sheba, Arba, and Ugo went to a different dimension soon after to find Ill Illah dying and turning black. They were forced to acknowledge the terrible truth of the first world: Ill Illah’s rukh defined the fate of everyone despite their intentions and ideals. This knowledge prompted our king to replace Ill Illah as a deity and change the concept of destiny, thus creating white rukh which was distributed across every individual equally. The divine staves’ power was cancelled and he created three Magi: Arba, Sheba, and Ugo. Raising his brows, Adrastos stared at the scroll in wonder. So Magi existed back then, but the more astounding piece of information was that it was possible to grasp the source of destiny, to take ownership of the fate of all. If white rukh was added when this man Solomon replaced it… Then perhaps he could too? But at what cost? The dark king continued reading.

After Solomon replaced Ill Illah, one of his Magi, Arba, was altered. She believed Ill Illah was a god. I, Gamigan, have no doubt she felt angry and discontent, but her emotions created a new war between Arba and Solomon’s people. Her anger, her war, caused the death of Sheba by her own hands and the theft of her divine staff. Al-Thamen, formed by Arba after Ill-Illah was replaced, created life from rukh, and denied Solomon’s Rukh to use the black rukh of Ill-Illah. This new life, the Black Djinn, fought Solomon and his household. In order to stand a chance, Solomon’s household ascended into Djinn to fight Al-Thamen and the resurrected Ill-Illah.

The dark king Adrastos leaned back in his chair. There was a lot of information to process, and he was only about half way through the scroll. How could such information be kept hidden? Why?

In the end, Ill llah and Al-Thamen were sealed in an alternate dimension. The cost was high; alongside Sheba and Solomon, many of the people of Alma Torran died while the surface was left barren and lifeless. Chaos descended again as the death of Solomon ignited flames of aggression that each species had for one another. Ugo presented the magical orb containing the fetus of Aladdin, King Solomon and Queen Sheba's son, to the survivors as Solomon's heir, to restore hope in the surviving populace. As per Solomon's wish, Ugo created a new world with new rules governed by Solomon's Ruhk. This was one of two worlds in which Ugo established the Dungeon system so that a new King could be chosen whenever he was needed. This new king would prevent the chaos that occured before and after Solomon's reign from happening again.

He also established the Magi system, so that one touched by the Ruhk of a previous magi could guide the would-be Kings. However, Al-Thamen was resurrected in the new world with plans to destroy it. Ugo, now a Djinn and unable to intervene in the world's affairs as the Guardian of the Sacred Place, raised Aladdin in hopes of saving the new world from Arba's deadly vendetta. This ultimately ended in calamity, the very fabric of that world being destroyed in the process.

The cosmic shockwaves took all of Ugo’s strength to contain, protecting the second world - a back-up world - from being destroyed. Ugo, with his final strength, guided and migrated the Ruhk to this other planet before entering a deep slumber. When he awoke, the world was already thriving once more with the various races of the previous world. Unfortunately, his strength still shackled, he found his ability to help guide the land greatly impeded. That was when he came to learn that the world already had Magi within it.

Unfortunately, even that world fell to darkness and Ugo created a new world. This third world is similar to the previous, but is more malleable as time goes on it seems. Even as I sit here in my dungeon, waiting for the right candidate to wield my power, I feel the changes in this world. From multiple chances at life dwindled down to one to the fall of crystalized fate that rained down on the world… Times are changing, and perhaps a new vision is needed to move the world into a proper era of peace and prosperity. There is one man heading here now that shows promise despite going against the designs of fate. He may not be worthy of my power, but I shall bestow upon him this information instead and wait to see what comes from it.

Adrastos lowered the scroll over a nearby candle. The flame licked at the parchment and instantly devoured it, leaving nothing behind. Nox, Adrastos’ most trusted companion, tried to reach out to save the paper but was stopped by the dark king. “No need. I’ve learned what I need to know, and this ensures that only I possess the knowledge from the scroll.”

The language he now knew was probably rare, but the dark king knew better than to leave something so vital lying around for some lucky individual to find it. No, Adrastos wasn’t that stupid. It was better to destroy the scroll. The dark king looked at Nox but said nothing to him until he walked away, “Do not disturb me.”

A few days later, the air carried a gentle breeze, bringing in a northern chill from the frostbitten lands north down toward southern Kou. The darkened sky was covered in clouds, boiling over with signs of snow very soon. Just south of Rakushou, the capital city of Kou, was Zhaoshu, a town dusted with white snow from the previous night. The town was one of the most traveled through in terms of merchants on their way to Rakushou from the southern reaches of Kou, which made it perfect for a certain young man to send a message to the capital without directly attacking. A majority of the big guns that participated in the war had left the country, leaving it defenseless or at least out of scrutiny from outside parties. The silver haired king of darkness stared at the map in front of him, looking at the towns scattered across it. During the war, he marked locations where battles had occurred, where people were more impacted by the fights, but nothing seemed close to Rakushou. He ran his fingers through his white hair. After killing Zhizhu, what would be his next step? Balbadd was under his control, but he still didn’t have a base of operations. However, finding a headquarters was not a priority in Kou. He needed to let them know a new dark king had risen. Perhaps… Adrastos stood from his chair.

An underling burst through the doors of his throne, gasping for breath, “Important news!” The dark king narrowed his eyes. “What gives you the right to enter without knocking, worm?”

The underling, still gasping for breath, trembled. “I’m-I’m sorry,” he whimpered, bowing his head. “B-But… news from our brethren around the world… A dark creature was slain in the land of sand… chaos and riots are erupting… The capitol is overrun with dungeon beasts and taken over by Requiem Jinx,” he stopped to take a shaking breath, his wary eyes watching Adrastos impatiently tap his fingers again the arm of his throne, “Balbadd seems to be recovering from crusades of Sasan, the military has been strengthened since the incident, and the Council seems to be functioning perfectly during your absence…” The dark king fiddled with his rings. At least his puppets were playing their part, but sooner or later, the Minister would need to be taken out of the equation. There was still so much to do in Kou though. However, so much was going around the world that the dark king could not ignore for much longer. Thanks to the people that headed for Heliohapt where big things were set into motion under the influence of the Dark Hand and the dungeon that made its appearance in the sea of sand, Adrastos was free to do what he pleased. On top of all that, the Sasan crusades that became a worldwide occurrence, did not need his attention when they reached Balbadd’s borders. Balbadd was saved in his absence, but the young man always figured he could regain control if the worst happened. Free to do what he pleased… A message needed to be delivered; it was the only move he could think to make, but what would the message be and how would he deliver it? Looking down at the groveling worm, Adrastos walked past him to leave the war room. Before walking out, he looked at Nox, “I trust you to take care of things while I’m gone.” As the dark king closed the door behind him, he heard the chilling screams echo until they turned into gurgling moans. The sounds of a poor soul drowning in his own blood always brought a smile to his pale lips, a feeling he would relish as he thought about his plans while heading to his chambers for the night.

Somewhere within the capital city, a politician received news of a potential plot to attack the city. He didn’t want to believe it, but there was never such a thing as being too careful. He sent a scout to patrol the area noted in the letter and prayed the claims were false.

For the next few days, Adrastos equipped his full form, testing the waters of its power and the secrets he had left to uncover. He didn’t know what, but there was something powerful, something necessary to unlock for him to fully master the powers of this vessel. “What is it?” He swung his scythe, feeling the weight of the weapon in his hand. Perhaps he needed a different perspective. Looking up at the sky he flew into the night sky and looked down at the ground. The dark king closed his eyes and listened to the rukh around him, the rukh inside his vessel. “Tell me your secrets, Erebus… How much proof do you need of my conviction? My certainty? How much of myself do I need to offer?!”

Adrastos normally would have felt angry, but there was nothing. His emotions and feelings of pain had been eaten away to remove the weakness of his humanity. That should have made his mind clear to think, to plot, but did Erebus still not trust him? “Darkness must descend upon this pitiful world… Judgement must be passed on those beneath me and who dare get in my way. Why are you withholding your power from me?”

You know the secrets of the other worlds… The truth held from common knowledge… And yet you still wish darkness and despair to rain down on this world?

“This world does not deserve anything more if I can’t right the corruption caused by Solomon and Illah. If I can’t achieve ultimate power, then this world will be cleansed as punishment, and I will forge a new world in my image.” Adrastos opened his eyes, looking at an illusion of his own making in the shadowy form of himself. “So yes, I do.”

Then I will teach you…

The night of the new moon was upon the land of Kou. The night was relatively peaceful, but the still wind offered an ominous aura to take root. In one of the tallest inns overlooking one of the  main gates of the slumbering city of Rakushou, the capital city of Kou, a figure loomed in a darkened inn window wielding an obsidian scythe. His blood red eyes glowed with amusement. He had all the pieces in place: the orb of his djinn’s passive floated fifty meters away and his men waited outside the city gate for the signal. The time was now…

“Djinn of shadows, thou who gives power to the Fallen, bring forth the legion that engulfs the world in darkness.”

A massive magic circle encompassing an area of one hundred meters appeared below the orb, and beneath it, hundreds of shadow creatures to do their master’s bidding. Down on the ground, the dark king saw his own pawns entering the city, followed by a few of the shadow creatures. A majority of the creatures rushed to the gate to break it down. Once broken, most of them would rush out and take cover, hidden under the darkness of the forest nearby. A small group of cloaked figures would rush from the forest’s edge and into the city to join the creatures that remained inside. Together, the group of people and an equal amount of shadow creatures would unleash havoc and destruction upon the outer reaches of the city, tearing down buildings and killing civilians. Screams echoed through the night as the bloodbath began. Soldiers reacted to the chaos, their eyes wide with horror at the people and monsters attacking but immediately jumped into the fray in order to save their people.

The dark king watched the people scramble around like ants as he directed his army to various locations. The streets were being painted with blood, a sight that reminded the young man of a similar scene in Balbadd. But this was more amusing. Any time the soldiers would attack one of his underlings, the blade would pass through them and harm an innocent civilian or fellow soldier. There was confusion and panic, death and destruction. Fires began and started to spread. He only had one regret: he couldn’t join in on the carnage personally.

Yet just as swiftly as the attack started, it retreated. As the number of soldiers grew, the cloaked figures fell back, running toward the gate. Anyone that tried to follow them were cut down by the monstrous beasts save for a single man. This man did not follow the group directly for fear of meeting the same fate as the soldiers that tried before him. He moved stealthily, out of the way and out of sight, following the group out of the city and toward the forest beyond. Once the scout had exited the city, the dark beings melted away into the night, sinking into the shadows.

The scout followed the small group until they reached a small clearing where a small camping ground resided. He silently watched from the bushes as they discarded their cloaks and laughed among themselves.

“That should please our employer, right?”

“I would hope so. We haven’t been gaining the people’s trust for nothing. Now we can swoop in and pretend to save the day, making up for Yoshiro’s incompetence, like all those other towns to the west. ”

They chuckled amongst themselves, pouring a glass of celebratory wine. “To Torento Yanaihara, the Miracle leader! May he be the miracle to set Kou right!”

“Here here! To Trently!”

They clinked their tankards together to drink of their victory only for them to fall to the ground in an instant. An arrow pierced their hearts, signaling the keen eye of a skilled marksman. Alarmed, the scout staggered back, rustling the bushes he hid inside.. “I need to get out of here,” he whispered. An arrow whizzed past him, nearly grazing his cheek. He shuffled to his feet and ran like the wind, his heart pounding. He quickly took out a flare, aiming it towards an opening in the trees and signaling for immediate assistance. Another arrow was shot, wounding his leg with a glancing blow, but he still managed to keep going.

The scout, skilled at his work, moved carefully - weaving through the trees where he could, putting himself in his assailant’s blindspot. It felt like a lifetime, running away from the enemy. He ran and ran to ensure what he had just witnessed would be relayed to the appropriate authority. Though he was already close to the edge of the forest, he feared stepping out of the forest line would provide too easy of a target. He soon saw a favorable change in events; he noticed figures running toward him. In desperation, he cried for their aid.  

Once the cry for help was released, it seemed as if his assailant went quiet - likely to keep him or herself from being caught by the soldiers and interrogated. They had almost perfectly covered their tracks, too, had he not overheard the conversation of the insurgents. The soldiers helped the scout and carried them back into the city to be taken to the capitol.

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The scout lay in bed, being attended by a chirurgeon. His leg was wounded, however he knew it would heal in time. Instead, his entire focus was on his boss, explaining the details of what occurred. “Sir, when I arrived at the camp I hid nearby to try to listen in on their conversation. This is what I heard…” The scout repeated the words, to the best of his recollection.

He described how the men were slain, in cold blood, their words silenced from that point on. The man shuddered as he told of his chase - the only thing that saved him being his expert usage of the trees to shield him from the arrows that rained down from the archer. “I’m just thankful I was able to alert the rest and get out alive. Sir… I think this needs to be reported up as soon as possible. They must be held accountable for what they’ve done!” The man clenched his teeth, finishing his report while thinking of all those who died in the attack. It was clear to him that subterfuge was at play - this ‘Trently’ character being the ringleader, and silencing his own men to keep others from knowing.

"Rest easy," the scout's boss replied, "We will send word to the emperor's men in a week once your leg is healed. You've been through a lot; your body and mind are still in shock. And you almost got hit in a vital artery. Take that time to make sure you're not missing any details and that you recover."